Design and access, 27 March 2007

Hannah Budnitz welcomed Lesley Punter and Heledd Cressey from the Welsh Assembly Government, Carole-Anne Davies from the Design Commission for Wales and Graham Findlay from Disability Wales who all presented the issues and forthcoming changes in the regulation of design and access for developments in Wales. Following the presentations, which were informative and well-received, Huw Thomas from the faculty of City and Regional Planning at Cardiff University led a lively discussion that ranged from what training on design and access could be available for planners to what the guidance for design statements might include to whether planning was the appropriate discipline to cover these issues altogether.

Quiz, 25 October 2007

Organised by Lucie Taylor, the RTPI Young Planners Representative for Wales, and sponsored by Judd Farris, this highly enjoyable quiz took place in O’Neills in Cardiff. The sell-out event drew a number of teams from both the public and private sectors, including Newport City Council, Rhondda Cynon Taf County Borough Council, NLP, DPP, DLP and RPS.

The evening was ably presided over by the authoritative question-master, James Davies, from Planning Aid Wales. His enthusiastic and entertaining role as master of ceremonies ensured that an atmosphere of joie de vivre prevailed throughout the night (although this may also have been related in some way to the free drinks provided by Judd Farris).

It is ironic that the real winners of the evening were also the losers. Thanks to Lucie and James’ hard work, the quiz raised over £200 for Planning Aid Wales. However, the team from PAW also came in last place, requiring them to suffer the mild indignity of being awarded the booby prize of potpourri, which was, even more ironically, donated by themselves.

The winners of the quiz proper and several bottles of wine were ‘The Flying Elvises’ (aka RPS), with an impressive 53 out of 70 points. Close behind in joint second place were the somewhat inaccurately named ‘Really Crap Team’ (RCT) and non-planners ‘Wrong Said Fred’ (PCF). An additional prize for the best team name went to the inventive ‘Quiz Team Aquilera’, otherwise known as DPP.  Altogether the evening was a great success, and I’m sure we all look forward to the rematch.

Author:

Catherine Middleton

Publisher:

The Royal Town Planning Institute

Date:

18-Feb-08

Categories:

Networks & Associations 

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